airedale

Touched off a few handloads with the 44 mag revolver the other day making sure she is hitting where I aim. Got to thinking about the father of the 44 Mag Elmer Keith. I used to subscribe to Guns and Ammo and read his column every month, also have two of his books which for me were entertaining as Hell. The ultimate big bore fan old Elmer's idea of a Deer rifle was a 458 win mag. Gone but not forgotten. Al

Got dumped on with snow pretty good over the past two days, finished up plowing and shoveling around the house then took a walk into the woods, snow was above my knees and the going was tough. I thought I would go back and get my snowshoes but the more I thought about it I decided not to. I have done tons of hunting on snowshoes for Hare but never for Deer, I did not cotton to the thought of shooting a Deer and having to pull it out in deep snow wearing snowshoes. The weather is supposed to be pretty good over the next week or so, I will just let the snow settle some for easier going. Lots of time left. Al

With this heavy snow I expect a change in the Deer's pattern around here, they seem to lay low for a couple of days before they get out and start moving around and adjusting to the snow. the good part is the snow will show what the pattern changes are. Al

Another layering item is a good quality wool sweater, I have a couple of the Cabelas with the windshear lining, one is 80% wool the other is 100%. I completed most of my chores this morning wearing a thin poly T, a heavy weight military poly long sleeve under shirt and a Cabelas heavy sweater with the windshear lining. When is gets colder I have a heavy nylon windbreaker jacket that I can wear over the above. Al

The warmest cold weather gear I have is a set of Refridgiwear coveralls, the mainstay of the folks who work up in the artic. I wear them all winter long here on the farm doing chores, I can tell you I am never cold with those things on even in sub zero temps. Not my cup of tea for hunting clothes as they are very heavy and bulky, movement can be cumbersome, they would probably work for someone that sits all day. Stay away from anything made of cotton. Al

When I was a young guy I would be out there, these days I am a "ruminator", the season is long and there is plenty of time for me to hunt in weather a bit more enjoyable. Besides I have a half a day worth of chores to do here on the farm where there is never any breaks from the weather, every day, 365 days a year. Looks like I will be clearing some serious snow over the next day or so. Al

It is a stainless 24 inch barrel, the rifle's overall length is 38 inches, light weight compact, easy carrying and it is very accurate. For the two hole crowd I will guarantee this setup will do it. Al

The short barrel and small scope make the rifle very light and those handloads are stiff so shooting a bunch of shots off a bench is not what I call fun, she will rattle your brain, in the field hunting however no problem. Al

I have a really nice aluminum double rifle case I got for a gift many years ago and have used it only once, is somewhat large and bulky, I like the soft sided case personally. I would not say it is exactly fireproof per,se but I think it may hold up under some moderate heat, regardless that is what I am going to use. Al

A Bobcat is one animal I have never come across, there just are not any around these parts. I have run into tracks where I hunted snowshoe Hare up north of here but that is it for me. Congrats Al

Sorry to hear that Paula, I was looking forward to seeing another nice buck taken by you. The season is long so you can still get after them, I can tell you I have killed a lot of Deer the very last day of the season. Al

True and that is why I will be casing my firearms, if I can avoid a hassle I will. Al

Some interesting stuff can come up on bait-gut piles, I have seen videos of guys placing a pile of fish, jars of peanut butter, dog food, kitchen scraps etc. and have a camera watch over the bait, they get some surprising results. Good luck. Al

On a relatively small amount I would pay out of pocket if you can come up with the cash. Al

Got about 6 inches of fresh snow that has me mildly excited, going to try and make it 3 years in a row with a single shot I think. Time for the TC Encore with the 45-70 barrel to earn it's keep. I will be interested to see how the old 350 gr Barnes pointed soft points perform.

The biggest offenders are the ones who left, you can go back and look through anyone of these shitshows that seem to happen on a regular basis and you will see the same cast of characters involved. It is an embarrassment. Start hitting the ban button and you will see this baloney stop immediately. Al

Hunting overall has changed, I believe that the loss of small game hunting is the biggest single factor in hunting's downturn. When I was a kid everyone hunted and small game season was looked forward to back then the same as Deer hunting season. Put a kid behind a good Beagle running Rabbits or in a good Squirrel woods, in a blind overlooking a good waterfowl pond, whacking woodchucks at long range on a nice summer day, when youngster gets to see plenty game and get to fire their firearms more than one time a season it makes a big difference in the fun factor department. Sitting in a tree stand freezing your ass off all day, day after day is not fun for most newbies and easy to see why hunting is not their cup of tea. Like little league baseball and peewee football start out small, get hooked and grow into it. Al

Always have been pretty much a lone hunter, seeing this snow on the ground gets me excited as it will make for some great still and tracking hunting, an equalizer when it comes to Deer hunting. Al

Nice little thank you gift from this outfit delivered by UPS today. They have been treating me well. Al

A little work to produce each cartridge for well under a $1, sure beats what they are going for online for old new stock and mine are better.

Here is my first batch of 256 Winchester mags, two loads to start out with, the first is almost a duplication of the old 25-20 Missouri Bullet Company hard cast 85 gr, these have a special coating on them to prevent leading, these should move out at about 1700 fps. I got the load out of my old Lyman manual and it was their accuracy load which by all past experience has been good for me. I hope these shoot good because I bought a bunch of them The second test load of 10 is the Sierra dual purpose 90 gr hp boat tail, it is one of my favorite bullets for both varmints and Deer. They have a bit more octane and should be sailing along at a little over 2000 fps. The twist rate in the 256 barrel may be a problem so I have my fingers crossed on these. Now if the weather cooperates I will hit the range and burn some powder. I really have enjoyed messing with this 256 Al

You know I did not think I would have to read this kind of garbage thread again now that utopia has arisen, but like moths to a flame the malcontents keep popping in chucking cheap shots acting like two year olds. Al

The main thig is you are OK

Hey Robby congratulations, nice Buck. Al

Glad you are OK, ground stands for this old geezer. Al